Scoop shovel for toy vehicles

ABSTRACT

AN ARTICULATED TYPE SCOOP SHOVEL FOR MOUNTING ON A TOY VEHICLE HAVING INNER AND OUTER BOOMS INTERPIVOTED END TO END WITH THE INNER END OF THE INNER BOOM PIVOTED TO THE VEHICLE AND A SCOOP BUCKET PIVOTED TO THE OUTER END OF THE OUTER BOOM, A HANDLE ON THE INNER BOOM FOR RAISING AND LOWERING IT ABOUT ITS VEHICLE PIVOT, A LEVER ADJACENT THE VEHICLE PIVOT, AND LINKAGE CONNECTING THE LEVER TO THE BUCKET FOR TILTING THE BUCKET ABOUT ITS PIVOT BY MANUAL OPERATION OF THE LEVER.

Dem 1971 "MN. GOOD SCOOP SHOVEL FOR TOY VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Shoot 1 Filed May 26, 1969 firronwsys Dec. 7, 197] w, GOOD 3,624,951

SCOOP SHOVEL FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed May 26, 1969 2 Sheets-Shout z FIEIE INVENTUR. 77/0M77s M 6000 lrramvs s United States Patent Oihce 3,624,957 Patented Dec. 7, 1971 3,624,957 SCOOP SHOVEL FOR TOY VEHICLES Thomas W. Good, Golden Valley, Minn., assignor to Tonka Corporation, Mound, Minn. Filed May 26, 1969, Ser. No. 827,666 Int. Cl. A63h 33/30 US. Cl. 46-40 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An articulated type scoop shovel for mounting on a toy vehicle having inner and outer booms interpivoted end to end with the inner end of the inner boom pivoted to the vehicle and a scoop bucket pivoted to the outer end of the outer boom, a handle on the inner boom for raising and lowering it about its vehicle pivot, a lever adjacent the vehicle pivot, and linkage connecting the lever to the bucket for tilting the bucket about its pivot by manual operation of the lever.

Toy vehicles may be provided with articulated backhoes or scoop shovels to simulate their full sized counterparts for digging in the sand or the like. Examples of such toy structures may be found in US. Patents No. 1,302,857 to Sabina and No. 3,205,612 to Zbikowski. While such structures provide means for raising and lowering the shovel apparatus with respect to the vehicles, they do not provide means for positively controlling the degree of tilt of the bucket or digging shovel about its pivot axis.

The object of the present invention is to provide an articulated scoop shovel for a toy vehicle with separate controls for raising and lowering the shovel and for tilting it and moving it toward and away from the vehicle.

The above-mentioned and additional objects of the invention will be brought to light during the course of the following specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the shovel in extended condition, with the digging condition thereof shown in broken lines.

FIG. 2 is also a side elevation in reduced scale but showing the shovel in retracted or transport condition.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the shovel in extended condition taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the linkage and the bucket taken on line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical section taken on line 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken on line 66 of FIG. 5. 7

Referring now more particularly to the drawings reference characters will be used to denote like parts or structural features in the different views. The numeral 10 denotes generally the rear end portion of an articulated toy earth digging vehicle. The end portion 10 includes a cab and support unit 11 which is mounted on the portion 10 for swinging movement about a vertical axis. The unit 11 supports a rearwardly opening bifurcated bracket 12.

The scoop shovel is denoted generally by the number 14. It includes an elongated main or inner boom 15 which has a downwardly opening channel design as shown in cross section in FIG. 6. The boom has its inner end pivoted to bracket 12 as by pin 16 for up and down swinging movement and tapers laterally in its outward extension (FIG. 3). An outer or bucket boom 17, also of channel construction, has its end portion 18 pivoted to the swingable end portion of boom 15 as at 19. It will be noted that pin 19 is spaced inwardly a substantial distance from the end of boom 15 and that the pivoted end of boom 17 is cut away as at 20.

A scoop bucket, sometimes referred to as a dipper, has a pair of side walls 22 connected by a curved bottom wall 24 and a back wall 25. The lower or extended end of the bucket boom 17 is pivotally connected as by pin 26 to a U-shaped bracket 27 mounted on the back wall 25 of the bucket.

A cross rod 28 is mounted on the bucket 21 extending crosswise between walls 2 near the rear wall 25 thereof. An elongated channel-shaped link 29 has one end journaled on the rod 28 and its other end pivotally connected to the extended end of boom 15 as by pin 30. It will be observed that link 29 extends along and partially within the boom 17 and through the cut-away portion 20 thereof (FIG. 5). Boom 17 and link 29 accordingly have an intercrossing relationship whereby as the angle between the booms 15 and 17 is increased, such as from the position of FIG. 2 to the position of FIG. 1, the link 29 will cause the bucket 21 to move downwardly about the pivot 26 to a dumping position.

The movement of boom 17 relative to boom 15 is accomplished by a lever 31 journaled on pin 16 and connected to boom 17 by an elongated link 32. Link 32 has its rear end pivotally connected to boom 17 as at 34 and extends forwardly along and within the channel of boom 15, angling upwardly at its forward end as at 35 through a slot 36 (FIG. 3) in boom 15 for pivotal connection at 37 with lever 31. It accordingly will be understood that when the control lever 31 is moved rearwardly, or to the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, the link 32 will swing the bucket boom 17 rearwardly increasing the angle between the booms and conversely when lever 31 is moved forwardly, or to the left, the angle between the booms will be reduced.

A cylindrical handle 39 is securely mounted on the boom 15 as by mounting bar 40 to extend laterally from the boom. This is used for raising and lowering movement of the boom 15 about its pivot at 16. A torsion spring 41 (FIG. 1) may be provided around pin 16 to yieldably bias the boom 15 toward its raised position shown in FIG. 2.

In operating the device a child uses both hands with one being on the handle 39 and the other on lever 31. Handle 39 can be operated to move the entire support unit 11 about its vertical axis as well as to move the entire shovel structure 14 about the horizontal axis provided by pin 16.

At the same time, lever 31 is operated to swing the outer boom 17 outwardly increasing the angle between booms 15 and 17. As this occurs the bucket 21 will be tilted downwardly to position shown in full lines in FIG. 1. Through operation of handle 39 the bucket 21 can be moved substantially below ground level or it may be brought to its extended tilted position substantially above ground level. Then as lever 31 is moved forwardly the bucket 21 will be tilted upwardly and simultaneously swung inwardly, as the angle between the booms is reduced, causing the bucket to be filled with sand or soil. When the shovel has been brought to the position of FIG. 2 or thereabouts, the handle 39 may then be utilized to move the unit 11 about its vertical axis until the bucket 21 has reached the area in which it is to be unloaded. The booms are then again extended to move the bucket to its tilt position and deliver its contents to the proper place.

Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a scoop shovel for a toy vehicle (a) an inner boom having its inner end pivoted at a point on the vehicle on a horizontal axis,

(b) an outer boom having one end pivoted at a point on the inner boom near the extended end thereof; (c) a bucket pivoted to the extended end of the outer boom,

(d) a control lever journaled on the inner boom on a horizontal axis located between said pivot points on the inner boom,

(e) an elongated link having one end connected to the control lever at a point spaced from said lever journal axis and the other end connected to the outer boom whereby as the lever is moved about its journal axis relative to the inner boom the outer boom and bucket will be swung relative to the inner boom between dilferent distances from the vehicle,

(f) a second link having one end pivoted to the outer end of the inner boom and its other end pivoted to the bucket, and

(g) a control handle fixedly mounted on the inner on the pin.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Sabina 46-40 Penica 4640 X Zbikowski 46-40 Balthazoli 46-40 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner D. L. WEINHOLD, JR., Assistant Examiner 

